Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I promise I'm not selling anything. Look through the pictures. Look at the women. What's wrong here?

They're all hunched over or slouching, like ragdolls. Look at those vacant faces. They look really uncomfortable. Or maybe dead. Now turn to page 15. *GASP!* You can see a hiiiint of breast-curve on the girl in the pink shirt!

Why are these girls posed so awkwardly? And why don't we see curves anywhere else in the ENTIRE CATALOG? Because the models are posed to disguise their curves.

So, for your reading pleasure, I've compiled my very own How To Model for Urban Outfitters guide:

Hunch. Posture is for confident people. You need to take up as little space as possible.

This photo is disgusting. It confronts you, like good art should. It's not a new concept, but is is done quite well here. It's awfully significant that Gaga's "bits" are covered by meat. Her nudity is a consumable product. The meat is just a symbol for what's underneath it. But of course, that concept somehow escaped the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals:

"No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal," PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement. "Meat represents bloody violence and suffering, so if that's the look they were going for, they achieved it."

There are literally hundreds of examples of PETA's sexist and objectifying advertising. One of their major spokespeople is Pamela Anderson who is, of course, best known for her massive tits intellect. I'm just saying, it wasn't witty remarks that were bouncing on the intro to Baywatch. Amiright?

Don't get me wrong. I love animals. I am deeply considering becoming a vegetarian, because I think the meat industry is cruel and evil. But between the whole "I'd rather go naked" shtick (and by "naked" apparently they mean Photoshopped to hell...) and the "Vegetarians have better sex" video, I think enough is enough. It's cheap and stupid to advance the agenda of one oppressed group at the expense of another. Says (my new bestie) Carol J. Adams in her introduction to The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory: "Honoring animals but not women is like separating theory from practice, the word from the flesh." Pot, meet kettle.

So please, PETA, let's talk. Put down the airbrush. Stop using shock tactics that undermine the legitimacy of your message.

(And if still don't see what I'm talking about, guys, just watch this.)

Mission Statement

The Stripped Project exists to provide a fair representation of real beauty in hopes of repairing the damage done by the skewed depictions of the human (especially female) form in traditional media.

Manifesto

These photographs are neck-down only, front and back. These models and their photographs are un-"enhanced” and unedited in any way. These photos are not meant to be attractive or perfect or sexy, though they may be. They are meant to be honest. If traditional art is the idealized depiction of "beautiful" forms, then this is an anti-art project. This project is a protest against the current domination of pre-packaged beauty and conformist aesthetics. It is a celebration of the human form. The purpose of this project is to promote discussion. This is part photographic catalog, part documentary, part cultural commentary, part political statement, but mostly it is a revolution.

READ ME: The Stripped Project is now taking submissions!

Here are some ground rules about the blog's new policy.

By sending me your photograph, you are certifying:

That this is your photo and you own the rights to it.

That you are giving me the rights to use this photo however I see fit.

Most importantly, you are legally certifying that you are OVER 18.

Photographs should be .jpg images in the site's format: taken from the neck-down with one picture of the front, and one of the back. You can pose however you want, and with as many people as you want, as long as it's not obscene. Use common sense. I've found the best photos (the ones that are the most expressive and compelling) are usually the ones of people standing naturally, letting their body language do the talking.